Got Bit. Vietnam Adventure, Part One

"The journey of discovery is not in seeing new landscapes, but in seeing with new eyes."

Incheon International Airport. Day One. Where it began.

I feel that I have inadvertently shot myself in the leg.
I went and got bit by that darn travelling bug and now its all I can think about. The inside of my head is racing with new ideas: when can I abandon everything and go travelling next, where should I go, what continent should I explore, how long should I stay, should I go alone, should I ever come back?

Now it is so hard to stay focus on real life.

All I can say is that I love being somewhere foreign, where I hardly know my own identity, and there is no concrete purpose to my days other than to wake up and explore and discover. Alone in Vietnam, I found myself getting lost in winding alleyways, riding on the backs of stranger's motorbikes, eating pho from vendors on city sidewalks, squeezing into tiny kinder-school-like plastic chairs. I had no schedule to abide by and nobody to report to. Life was too sweet.

The best part of travelling is the people. People were so happy to see you and so genuinely glad that you came to sit at their house-restaurant, or that you passed by their tiny house and chance to look in, or that you bought a mango off of them on the street and spoke with them for the 3 minutes it took for them to peel it and chop it up for you.

When I arrived in Nha Trang, I think this is Day 9, I found a pho place owned by a cute little family about five minutes away from the train stop. It was by far the best pho I have had in my life, and the best in Vietnam. It was so good I went there for lunch everyday I was in Nha Trang. I ordered the same thing: pho bo vien and a ca-phe sua (Vietnamese coffee with milk and ice...what had become my daily addiction). Anyways, every time I came, the whole family kind of stopped their work and gave me all their attention like I was their royal queen, arrived in time for my special personal banquet. The last day I was there, the cook/sister/daughter, sat and talked to me. She is my age too, but looked so much older and maturer than I could ever be at 22. She was so excited to learn about what my life was like in Canada and in South Korea. The fact that I have been to more than one country made her eyes shine, not with envy, but fascination and awe. It was great how my ordinary life could interest someone so much, and my simple presence could bring a smile to someones face. But then again, she had the same affect on me. Her little business seemed to thrive. She made her own vermicelli noodles by hand and sold them to other stores. The whole family lived under one roof, but they seemed happy. I guess when there isn't more to expect out of life, you become happy with what just is.
Day Nine in Vietnam. This was my first hour in Nha Trang after getting off of a 14 hour train ride from Hue. Oh the first bite of that delicious pho...
Pho noodles being made. The boy used the roller to put some kind of clear liquid on it to make it easier to peel off and shred.
The noodles being shred. I have never seen pho noodles being made before. I was pretty impressed. They were the silkiest noodles that ever entered my mouth.

I told Huong, the girl who owned the place and made the pho, about how my family escaped Vietnam for Hong Kong. Apparently, when she was a little girl, her dad along with 10 other men went on a fishing boat to escape communism Vietnam as well. All 11 passengers, including her dad, died in their pursuit of that distant land. Her eyes turned red and welled up with tears. I was so sad to sit there. Her comparison. She brushed it off, smiled to me, told me to finish my pho, and that when I come back to Vietnam, I have to promise to drop by and say hi. I took a picture of her face, her restaurant name, told her she had the best pho in all of Vietnam from Vinh to Saigon, and promised I would be back to Nha Trang. Now I can't break my promises, can I?


Huong is the girl to my left. A sweetheart. She looks older than 22, no?

Please stay tuned for more pictures and stories. I've got TONS :)